ANTI-DRUG COALITION ANNOUNCES GOALS TO REDUCE ABUSE

An anti-drug coalition announced Thursday that it will work to reduce
substance abuse in Sarasota County by 50 percent over the next five
years.

The recently created Sarasota Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition
unveiled several long-term goals at a meeting featuring a half-hour
motivational speech by state drug czar James. R. McDonough.

"You would think, at first sight, there wouldn't be problems here,"
McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, told the
crowd of about 200 at the Sarasota County School District offices. "In
my view with all Sarasota has going for it, it shouldn't have as
extreme a drug problem."

Coalition Chairman Elliott Metcalfe, the 12th Judicial Circuit public
defender, announced the group's goals: to reduce substance abuse for
people of all ages by 30 percent over the next three years and by 50
percent over five years; to reduce alcohol, marijuana and other drug
use by youths by 30 percent over the next three years; and to increase
the number of senior citizens with a medication manager by 30 percent
over the next three years.

The group did not discuss strategies for accomplishing the
goals.

The audience of politicians, law-enforcement officials, school
district officials, anti-drug activists and treatment counselors heard
an array of drug-abuse statistics, including: 10 percent of Sarasota
County students have used cocaine, 200 metric tons of cocaine flow
into Florida annually and 700,000 people statewide are addicted to
drugs.

"The question is, are we really going to make an effort?" asked
Maryanne Andrews, director of Drug Free Communities.

Andrews pleaded for the community to come together to make the changes
happen.

"This looks like a very strong group, and it needs to keep going. The
goals are wonderful and have to be translated," said McDonough, a
former Army colonel who has helped formulate anti-drug policies on the
federal level.

McDonough said he hopes similar coalitions statewide will be vocal and
not tolerate drug abuse.

If the issue isn't taken seriously soon, he said, "we're going to
create a generation of junkies who'll never get off."